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 Investigator:
Luca Inverardi
Core E has a two-fold purpose. First, this Core is
designed to provide investigators with insulin-producing cells,
called islets, that are of the highest quality. Second, Core E will
be dedicated to helping investigators with techniques of islet,
kidney and aorta transplantation. Both functions are necessary to
obtain in vivo proof of principle of the genetic engineering premises
of specific Projects.
For the first service, Projects 1, 2, and 4 of this
proposal will rely heavily on the Core facility to obtain both islet
cells and whole islets that have been obtained from selected animal
species. Islets will be used by investigators in Projects 1, 2 and
4 to introduce potentially beneficial molecules through genetic
engineering that involves the use of selected viruses. Islet preparations
will be rigorously tested for both survivability and function through
several techniques that include: staining, analysis of cell-death,
islet responsiveness to high glucose, and transplant into diabetic
mice. These tests will be used to evaluate the quality of islet
preparations, both before and after genetic engineering.
The University of Miami has substantial expertise
in the isolation of islets from numerous animal species including
mice, rats, pigs, dogs, non-human primates, and humans. This expertise
will allow participating project investigators to rapidly progress
to highly relevant pre-clinical models as encouraging preliminary
results are observed in mice models. Use of this core facility provides
numerous investigators with a dedicated facility and training, without
the need for useless duplication of resources or the implementation
of a time-consuming learning curve. Thus this Core guarantees reliability,
reproducibility of the procedures and precise quality control, in
a very cost-effective fashion.
The second function is to deliver the highest standards
of quality and reproducibility in the transplantation of islets
following their re-engineering by investigators in Projects 1, 2,
and 4. Similarly, transplants of genetically-manipulated kidney
and aorta performed in this facility to Project 3 investigators.
Furthermore, Core E will provide training to all investigators to
insure standards of excellence in the experiments proposed.
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